Mengniu's Olympic planning deserves a gold medal

In the wave of Olympic marketing, the Mengniu brand shifted the focus from gold medals to individual persistence and hard work in an unconventional way. Through a series of creative content, it demonstrated the strong spirit of ordinary people in different fields, thus giving the Olympic spirit a broader and deeper connotation.

In Olympic marketing, the brand focuses on a hot topic.

Wherever there is heat, there are busy figures. Of course, Olympic champions are undoubtedly the hottest topic. This is also the basic path of Olympic communication for many brands, which develop a series of content around gold medals.

However, Mengniu's Olympic planning this time took an opposite approach.

Looking elsewhere, not playing the championship card, not focusing solely on gold medals, has created a new Olympic context.

After seeing so many close-ups of champions, let us follow Mengniu’s brand perspective and find a different way to follow the Olympics.

1. Using "championship" as a footnote to strength

In many scenarios, the championship is the ending of the story.

The moment the championship was won, the audience's adrenaline soared to the highest point and the public emotions were fully released.

But in this short film by Mengniu, the championship is just a calm beginning, and more praise is given to the creators of life.

As a brand spokesperson, Mengniu did not exaggerate Gu Ailing's championship status, nor did it talk about Jia Ling's hotness. It was more like gently opening a book and letting the public read their own stories.

Taking this Olympic opportunity, we switch the audience to a reader's perspective, shorten the distance between life and the arena, and see different champions.

The text lines in the short film also supplement the definition of "champion".

"We praise champions, but those who are strong have long transcended winning or losing." If we start from the relational structure in language, we can understand that the champion is a footnote to being strong.

The characters in the short film are the most authentic interpretation. They use their own stories to write a broader definition of the champion.

The 73-year-old Huang Caifu is still preparing for the full marathon. He has defied his age and has already won his victory.

Wearing prosthetic limbs, Liao Zhi dances out his own brilliance in life. Isn't this a kind of perfection?

The Jialing River Diving Team also deserves a full score for their jumps outside the spotlight.

It can be seen that when Mengniu interprets the championship more often, it is actually slowly portraying the spirit of "being strong".

Don’t be afraid of age or fate, treat the obstacles in life as props for growth... Every strong person is a champion in life.

Compared with the Olympic communications that directly target the gold medal, Mengniu’s planning this time not only elevates the brand structure, but also directs the championship traffic to the stronger brand core, which can be regarded as a championship-level Olympic pursuit operation.

2. Expanding the narrative space with “more than”

In fact, Mengniu's short film has many clever ideas in expression, and creativity often lies in the details. It is not difficult to find that "more than" is the most frequently used word in the film, and it is also the core keyword throughout the entire communication. Why does Mengniu always use the expression "more than" instead of "more than"? After understanding the meaning behind it, the logic of this brand communication becomes clear.

Not only that, it is a progressive relationship, with the focus more on the latter.

More than that, it is a verb, a continuous state. If the Olympics is regarded as a book, then this book is definitely not just about winning the championship, there are more stories worth reading.

Here, Mengniu is constantly writing the chapter of the Olympics, not only gold medals, not only 32 events, not only the Olympic arena...

Extending to a larger narrative space, it not only praises the stadium but also tells the story of life, so in terms of copywriting and picture structure, Mengniu made a lot of connection designs in this short film.

From Olympic champion Gu Ailing, to Jia Ling who wants to win once, to 73-year-old Huang Caifu who competes with himself... Mengniu conveys the spirit of being strong to more people through the form of role relay.

From just moving your legs to not using legs, from decent opponents to unusual venues... Mengniu uses specific character stories to go into each project and see how strong each person is.

In the Olympics, turning the camera from the podium to the audience and focusing on every ordinary person may seem like the opposite of what is happening, but it is actually truly interpreting the definition of a champion and reflecting the essence of the Olympic spirit.

The judo sparring partner who has thrown out 27 world champions, the construction site gymnastics prince Shi Shenwei, and many ordinary people who work hard around us... together they outline a larger picture of life's events and convey a powerful and resonant voice: victory belongs not only to the champions, but also to each of you who refuse to admit defeat.

3. Follow the Olympics in an immersive way by watching them in slices

Of course, winning an Olympic gold medal is always an exciting moment and a collective honor. It is also an opportunity for brands to take advantage of the situation and share the joy of the gold medal with posters. But Mengniu's approach to the Olympics this time has been upgraded. Instead of the traditional poster format, it uses video slices to simultaneously broadcast the medals.

It is worth mentioning that this upgrade is not a simple conversion of jpg to mp4 format, but a detailed expansion of the gold medal.

While celebrating the victory, it also opens a cross-section, allowing the audience to look inward to uncover the story and deepen the strong brand connotation beyond the gold medal.

For example, when the Chinese team won the first gold medal, the double LING combination of Gu Ailing and Jia Ling told the specific content of being strong, a mentality of starting from scratch, and a challenge to oneself.

When the new generation wins the championship, the story of 73-year-old Huang Caifu and the diving "Dream Team" is used to let people see a kind of strength that is not afraid of age. This way of slicing the Olympic Games not only links the gold medal with our daily life, but also opens up more connections, allowing consumers to move towards the broader Olympic arena.

When we face our fate bravely, we stand under the spotlight; when we crawl forward in life, we will cross the finish line. Mengniu opens the Olympics in this way. It seems that this is not chasing the Olympics, but clearly awarding our lives and nourishing everyone in the world to be strong.

In addition, I think the form of "slicing" itself is to strengthen the self. In the short film, we may be a group portrait, but when we click to expand, we go from being the audience to the protagonist of the game.

At this moment, the brand proposition of "Being strong is not just about the Olympic Games, victory belongs not only to the champions, but also to every one of you who wants to be strong" has become concrete.

Back to the beginning, why give Mengniu a gold medal for its Olympic planning?

Because this campaign is like a wonderful competition, it is always interconnected.

From the topic of champions to the spirit of being strong, Mengniu responded to everyone in the form of slices, leveraging the Olympic Games to a humanistic level.

It is not about creating traffic, but about caring about every bit of strength. We struggle in the mud, fight against fate again and again, and muster up the courage to start again... In these arenas of life, we win again and again.

With the Olympic Games, the story of becoming stronger will continue.

Author: Shock Copywriter

Source public account: Shock Copywriting (ID: 214328)